'Talking Art' With Kim Findlay Of The Putnam Museum

Race: Are We So Different? is a thought-provoking exhibit currently on display at the Putnam Museum in Davenport. This interactive, travelling exhibit encourages the visitor to reconsider the idea of race through scientific, historical, and cultural lenses.

Created by the American Anthropological Association, the visitor learns that the concept of race is a relatively recent human invention, that race is about culture and is tied to power and social/economic hierarchies rather than biology, and that racism continues to be embedded in our social institutions and everyday lives. Human variation is distinct from the created concept of race.

Listen to the conversation here with Kim Findlay, President & CEO of the Putnam Museum about why she felt this exhibit was important to bring to our community, about the facilitated discussion circles that can be arranged through the Putnam for organizations or groups of interested individuals, and why honest conversations about race are so important now.

The Putnam Museum is located at 1717 W. 12th Street in Davenport. Hours are Mon-Sat from 10AM – 5PM and Sun from 12PM-5PM. General admission is $9 for adults and $8 for youth ages 3-18. The exhibit closes on Memorial Day.

“The line between black and white, or between any two so-called races, is vague. It’s also irrelevant to the bigger question which is, ‘what are we’? The answer to that is simple – human.” - Teja Arboleda, Producer & Educator, RaceOff